After all the rain and cloudy weather we've had for the past few weeks, yesterday dawned clear, cool and calm! What a difference – low humidity, no cloud, no rain, no wind – doesn't get much better than that! The result was that, after 390 had signed up for the race by Friday evening, a bunch more showed up and we had over 500 runners all told.

And what a great run it was. I found I had time to chat with a couple of runners on the way (mostly while we were walking up the steeper hills!) and still clipped 3 minutes off my expected time! Today, I had an easy run to recover (!) and found myself running just a bit slower than my 5K pace.

More runs:

I have now signed up for the Remission Run in Conroe on January 30 – a 5K trail run. I've also signed up for the Capitol 10K and the Nashville half marathon, so the Remission Run will fit nicely into my training schedule. It's an interesting course, partly on trails, and I'll be running it in memory of my late wife, who died of cancer.

Last year, I ran it with my daughter Sally, who intends to run it again this year if her knees recover – she's having problems with them right now. The run is in memory of cancer victims and to honor cancer survivors, and they announce the names at the end of the run (I'm a cancer survivor, but I don't tell them that). This year, they'll also print the names on the T-shirts: what better way to remember my late wife (my daughter's mother)!

For a great video of last year's run, go to the bottom of the page this page.

Silly Problems:

One of the decisions I face for fall and spring runs is whether to wear a jacket or not. Yesterday, I wore a light fleece jacket: with temperature in the 50s I get cold, especially in the shade! I know, if I ran faster I wouldn't get cold, but that's not a choice right now!

So why is it a problem? Well, I find I need to decided before the start whether to pin my race number to my jacket or to my T-shirt. I solve this for longer runs by pinning it to my shorts, so that I can shed my jacket during the run and tie it around my waist, but with a 5K I don't want to take the time to do that.

Stupid, really, because how much time would I really lose? And does it matter at my pace? Such is vanity, though!

We all have silly little problems like that bothering us before races. I'd love to read what yours are! Why not post them on our forum, and we'll have a prize for the silliest one!  Post now, while you think of it!